Will 2025 General Election Follow Redistricting Exercise?

Senior Counsel Anand Ramlogan has responded to a letter from the law firm Courtenay Coye, representing the Government of Belize. This concerns a pre-action claim about the long-overdue redistricting exercise, filed in the High Court for Ramlogan’s clients, including Jeremy Enriquez, Jessica Tulcey, and Rudolph Norales. In reply to Courtenay’s letter, which stated that the Briceño administration won’t announce the general election date today, the Trinidadian lawyer emphasized the need for a broader commitment from the Attorney General of Belize. He requested that the Attorney General inform the claimants’ attorney in writing at least five days before any decision to dissolve Parliament and set a date for the general election, as required by the Constitution. News Five spoke with Jeremy Enriquez, one of the three claimants.

 

Jeremy Enriquez, Claimant

“The government was, as we know, intending, the Prime Minister was intending to call or set a date for the elections, for the national elections to occur and what we were very concerned about, I, as a citizen of Belize was that the move was going to continue the status quo in which we have severe malapportionment of Belize’s electoral constituencies.  So, as far as I am concerned, they were planning again to violate the Constitution of Belize even though when, at the beginning of their term, they promised that they would have all of that ironed out in compliance with Section Ninety of the constitution.  So it was very disturbing that they would even consider rushing through another election without first redistricting the electoral divisions of Belize. It was at that point that we secured the services of an attorney, a well-known international constitutional attorney, highly qualified, from Trinidad, to assist in this case. He had written to the Prime Minister, to the Attorney General to make it known that any election that would be called would be considered illegal and in violation of the constitution and that we are going to challenge it through to the highest court, if necessary.  As a result, the Prime Minister complied and did not, if he was intending to, announced any date for election.  Hopefully, in good faith, to try to have this resolved.”